Jim Berkman
     Men's Lacrosse
     Head Coach

Email:  jjberkman@salisbury.edu

Recognized and respected throughout the lacrosse community as one of the top coaches in the nation, Jim Berkman is one of the few coaches in the nation whose team has won a national championship. In fact, he's won six. 

His Sea Gulls captured the 1994 NCAA national championship with a 16-0 record, becoming the first undefeated national champion in the history of the NCAA Division III Championship. The next season, Berkman guided the Gulls through a 17-0 campaign to successfully defend the crown in 1995. SU captured its third national title in 1999 while finishing with an 18-1 record, and claimed its fourth title in 2003 while registering a final 19-1 record. Berkman led the Gulls to their third undefeated national championship in 2004 with a final 20-0 record.  In 2005, Berkman led the Gulls to their second straight undefeated season, finishing with a 20-0 record and a third consecutive national championship.

Berkman completed his 18th season at Salisbury  in 2006, and his record is true evidence of the outstanding program he has built on Maryland's Eastern Shore. His career record at SU is 276-30, including 77-0 all-time as a member of the Capital Athletic Conference. The Sea Gulls have made 18 consecutive trips to the NCAA Championship Tournament, the longest active streak among NCAA Division III programs. Salisbury also enjoyed a remarkable 64-game regular season winning streak from 1992 to 1997 and a 69-game win streak from 2003 to 2006.

Berkman has guided the Sea Gulls to the number one ranking in the USILA poll 11 times, and finished with undefeated regular season squads in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2004 and 2005. In addition to winning the championship six times, Berkman's 1991, 2000 and 2006 teams finished as the national championship runner-up. In recognition of his achievements, Berkman was the recipient of the USILA's Francis "Babe" Kraus award as the 1991 Division III Coach-of-the-Year.

Under Berkman's leadership, the Gulls have had 118 players named as All-Americans, including a school-record 11 in 1995, and 10 players in 2004. Additionally, 44 players have been selected to play in the annual North-South All-Star game. Including one year as the head lacrosse coach at Potsdam State, Berkman's career record stands at 285-35 entering the 2007 season.

An All-American midfielder at St. Lawrence (NY) University in 1982, Berkman came to Salisbury after serving as the assistant lacrosse coach and head basketball and JV soccer coach for three seasons at his alma mater. The Watertown, NY native starred on the basketball team as well as the lacrosse squad at St. Lawrence, earning MVP honors in basketball as both a junior and senior. He was also selected to play in the prestigious North-South All-Star lacrosse game in 1982. Berkman was inducted into the St. Lawrence Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.

After graduating from St. Lawrence in 1982, Berkman spent two years at Salisbury University while he earned his master's degree. He served as the Gulls' assistant lacrosse coach during those two seasons as SU compiled a 23-7 record. Following one successful season at Potsdam State, where Berkman coached the lacrosse squad to a school-record nine wins, he returned to St. Lawrence from 1985-88. As head basketball coach, Berkman directed his '87-88 St. Lawrence team to the ICAC league championship.

9.18.06

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